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Thursday, 17 September 2009

Duchess style

Well, I had 8 débutantes proper and 15 debs for the day, two Princesses and one Duchess to have hair, make up and get dressed for the evening ball held yesterday in Westminster. The gowns had all been selected and fitted by Pronovias of Bond Street and Harrods ( a Barcelona based wedding gown specialist) as the theme for the ball was of white gowns. A fairytale coming out! The television screening of the Queen Charlotte Ball takes place on Channel 4 in December.

Apologies for photo qualities but as well as the film crew photographer and the You and Your Wedding photographer we did have our own one to take behind scenes photos. I couldn't resist a few blackberry snaps.Lukas Kroulik had created a fresh faced and hair look to go with the wedding gowns as we felt heavy make up and very structured hair would look too contrived with the fact the girls were wearing wedding gowns and very heavy ostentatious jewellery. Quite nymph like hair and I would have added ribbons to the dresses too - if I'd had my way. However stylistic quirks weren't really the order of the day, more production manger efficiency to execute everything on time.

The main 8 girls were to leave for more filming before the rest and as I helped the last one down the stairs by lifting her dress so she didn't go flying, I rushed back up the stairs to sneak in this shot above. The scene of the gathered girls below did look lovely waiting for their cars - the suits are the jewellery body guards!

And finally the Duchess of Somerset - I had just tied her mink stole on and had someone to lift her dress and put her shoes on so not the best of shots plus quality issues but I wanted a memento because we had quite an encounter. The poor duchess had arrived with luggage at the hotel but of course there were no rooms available for a freshen up and shower. I had to send someone to Harrods for shampoo and luckily I had a towel with me and the Duchess of Somerset literally had to freshen up in the washroom and have one of the hairdressers wash her hair there.

In the midst of it all I caught some of the debs using black eyeliner and adding to their make up! I told them off as the dresses and more importantly the jewellery had to be protected. Later on the Duchess told me she was impressed with my telling them off, I equally complemented her on her ability to muck in, in the washroom. And of course she uttered the words which were music to my ears. 'Well Kate, when I had a job for a while as a fashion assistant at Vogue we were taught to make do in any situation.' Ah Duchess style you've got to love it!

So I've been reading your blog for a while now but a few weeks ago I was searching for info on the ball and found this old post! Well what a delightful coincidence because I shall be a debutante this year! There's an etiquette seminar on Saturday and I'm really excited.Do you think you'll be involved again this year? :)